Raikkonen admits driving style behind China struggle

Kimi Raikkonen thinks his driving style was one of the main factors behind the difficulties he faced at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.

Raikkonen finished eighth after starting 11th on the grid, but made little impact on the race while team-mate Fernando Alonso finished nearly a minute ahead in third place. He was able to get performance from the car on fresh rubber, but said it soon dropped off as he struggled to maintain temperature in the tyres.

"My view is that it's probably more to do with driving style, plus the weather with the cold conditions and not getting the tyres working," he said. "Obviously if there was some issue then we would not be fast or happy with the new tyres, so I think it's a combination of cold conditions, the circuit layout and my driving style.

"I don't think I work the tyres very hard, so when there are cool conditions and wet conditions … for many years it has been hard to get the tyres working. Today it feels that when you have a new tyre it works well until the grip from the new tyres goes away and then you struggle and you have to go slower and the tyres cool down more - everything goes round and round and you cannot fix that.

"It's a thing that everybody hates, but there is not a magic thing and I cannot necessarily change everything with my driving. At the last race I could have done two stops [and gained an advantage] but the safety car changed [the race], so it works for you at some places and then against you at some. We just have to work and find some solutions when we have this and hopefully not end up with similar issues. Once you end up with that it's hard to get out of it, especially in the race."

Asked if his lack of results affected his motivation, Raikkonen said: "I don't know why you always come up with motivation. If I didn't have motivation I wouldn't be here answering these kinds of questions. It's fuck all to do with that. We have bad races and it's an unfortunate thing, but the aim is to improve and get where we want to be."